BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
‘Celebrating the Fourth Anniversary’
April 28, 2011
Workshop on
‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’
BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
Jawahar Nagar, Shameerpet Mandal
Rangareddy District, Hyderabad 500 078
Introduction
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), having campuses in Pilani, Goa,
Hyderabad and Dubai, is the No.1 private University in the country carrying out high
quality research and offering top quality education in various branches of Science and
Engineering. It currently offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate (Masters and
Doctorate) programs catering to the needs of about 10,000 on-campus and 18,000 offcampus students.
In an effort to promote innovation in R&D as well as to encourage budding entrepreneurs
amongst the student community, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad campus will be organizing a
workshop on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ on the occasion of the fourth anniversary
of its founding. Eminent entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from India and abroad
representing IT/Semiconductor/BioTech/Pharma sectors will be addressing the
workshop.
Program
14:00 - 14:10
14:10 - 14:30
14:30 - 15:15
15:15 - 16:15
16:15 – 16:30
-
Inaugural Speech by Prof. B.N. Jain, Vice-Chancellor
R&D/Entrepreneurial Activities at BITS - Prof. V.S. Rao, Director
Invited Speaker Presentations (5 minutes each)
Panel Discussion, Moderated by Mr. K. Vijay Rao, Industrliast
Refreshments
Speakers
1. Dr. Deven Verma, Founder, Edgewood
2. Kris Kalra, CEO, BioGenex
3. Raj Khare, CEO, Surewave
4. Dr. Ashok Agarwal
5. Dr. D.N. Rao, Chairman, X Design Ventures
6. MJ Aravind, Artiman Ventures
Speaker Bio
Dr. Kris Kalra
Dr. Krishan Kalra, Ph.D., Chairman, BioGenex (USA) and Managing Director, BioGenex Life
Sciences, Pvt. Ltd. (India)
Dr. Krishan Kalra is the Chairman of BioGenex Laboratories Inc. and Managing Director of
BioGenex Life Sciences, Pvt. Ltd. He is also the co-founder of BioGenex and continues to
serve as CEO. Under Dr. Kalra’s direction, BioGenex has grown from a small start-up to a
leading international supplier of cutting edge automated systems and reagents for Cellular
& Molecular Diagnostic Testing, Life Science Research, and Drug Discovery & Development.
Under his guidance BioGenex Life Sciences has designed, developed and now
manufacturers most advanced molecular pathology systems in the world which also the
most advanced medical systems ever manufactured in India.
Prior to founding BioGenex, Dr. Kalra worked for Abbott and Bio-Rad at senior
management positions. Before coming to United States, Dr. Kalra worked for BARC as a
scientific officer and as an assistant professor at the University of Rajasthan.
He was also a founding member and the first globalization chair of TiE (The Indus
Entrepreneurs), and currently serves as a charter member. During his 4-year tenure as TiE
Globalization Chair, he helped transition TiE from Silicon Valley phenomena to a global
powerhouse of entrepreneurs whose mission is the creation of wealth by fostering and
nurturing entrepreneurial Eco-system. He also served for additional 3 years as a trustee on
BOT.
Dr. Kalra completed a M.Sc. degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of Rajasthan
and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois. He is the author of numerous
scientific publications and inventor in over 50 US and foreign patents in the field of
automated systems, and biological tools for translational & clinical research, and molecular
diagnostics.
Raj Khare
Raj is Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of SureWaves, a Technology and Media
Company aiming to drive the world of digital media through innovative media
convergences solutions.
Raj is a seasoned entrepreneur with rich experience in high technology driven business. In
his earlier entrepreneurial venture, Raj co-founded Armedia Labs in 1997, an Indo-US
semiconductor start-up that developed world’s first single chip HDTV/MPEG Decoder and
was acquired by Broadcom Corporation for $67M. He served as Managing Director of
Broadcom India from 1999 to 2006, where his team went on to develop a series of digital
video products to secure Broadcom’s dominant position in the worldwide market. Raj held
senior management positions earlier at Arcus Technology, Wipro and Tata R&D Labs.
In 2004, Raj co-founded and served as the Founding Chairperson of India Semiconductor
Association (ISA) until 2007, an industry association that is at the forefront of driving
India’s transformation into a global hub for high technology products and drove the
creation of Semiconductor Policy with Government of India.
Raj graduated from BITS Pilani in 1982 as an Electrical & Electronics Engineer and has filed
more than 25 US patents during his stint with Broadcom and 30+ patents at SureWaves.
Under broad industry-academia collaboration program, Raj helped set up OLAB - a state of
the art semiconductor laboratory at his alma-mater BITS Pilani with participation from
leading industry players. He also served on the advisory committee of the Software
Technology Parks of India to set up an incubation facility called Orchid Techscape to
facilitate early stage incubation for high technology and product companies in India. Raj
was a member of the Karnataka Vision Group formed by Karnataka Government under the
chairmanship of Mr. Narayan Murthy.
Raj is a recipient of Udyog Rattan and Bharat Gaurav Awards.
Dr. Deven Verma
Dr. Deven Verma is one of the founding General Partners of Edgewood and Redwood Ventures. He
has invested and built many successful technology companies. In addition, Dr. Verma has served on
the Board Directors of Greater Bay Bank, Clearspeed Technology and Monet Communication.
Currently, Dr. Verma is involved in high tech areas including Avionics, Networking and
Semiconductors. He is also founding Director of HAL – Edgewood Technologies Pvt. Ltd. a joint
venture with HAL which is focusing on Avionics products, Edgewood Networks and EdgeCureAire.
With a vision to create world class HiTech products on the Indian Soil
Prior to founding Edgewood Ventures and Redwood Ventures, Dr. Verma was the Senior Vice
President at Loral Corporation a defense and satellite company and has managed the largest
commercial satellite project in the world. Dr. Verma was First Secretary at Indian Embassy,
Washington DC US and has also held senior positions at Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO).
Deven holds a Master from BITS Pilani and a Ph. D. degree in Space sciences.
Dr. Ashok Agarwal
Dr. Ashok Agarwal graduated from BITS,Pilani in December 1964 with a Bachelor’s degree in
Mechanical Engineering. Earlier he did his I.Sc and B.Sc also from Pilani. He did his MS and
Ph.D from the University of Minnesota. He worked at Bell Labs from 1966-1969 and was a
Professor at IIMC from 1969- 1987 and Ford Fellow to Sloan School MIT and University of
Minnesota . Ashok is the Founder of SQL Star International ltd, Cyber Media India Ltd, ACS
Techonologies Ltd.and Era software systems (P) ltd. He is now Chairman of Special Interest
Group on e-governance of Computer Society of India and the Indian Representative on IFIP
TC8. He is now settled at Hyderabad India. He is married to Deepa and they have two children,
Achal and Ekta both settled in USA.
Dr.D.N.Rao
Dr. D. N. Rao, is an innovator and a serial entrepreneur. He is a post-graduate from BITSPilani, and a Doctorate from University of Strathclyde, UK. After earning his Ph.D and working
abroad for a short term with Plessey Communications, Dr. Rao returned to India to start his own
enterprise, Duke Arnics. Duke Arnics became a pioneer and a leader in India with global
recognition in the field of Electricity Metering, Monitoring and Management Systems with
world-class infrastructure and researchers.
In the year 2002 he founded X_Designs and Ventures and is presently the Chairman of
X_Design Ventures Pvt. Ltd & Kushaiguda Electronics Pvt.Ltd., and Director of Jayem
Automotives Limited & Nava Bharat Ventures Limited.
MJ Aravind
MJ Aravind has over 25 years of global operational experience with large multinational
corporations including: Compaq, DEC, and Xerox in areas such as product management,
customer service, field operations and purchasing. Aravind leverages his operational experience
and extensive network of executives to help Artiman's portfolio companies establish operations
in India.
Prior to joining Artiman Capital India, Aravind was a co-founder of Daksh, one of India's largest
independent BPO (business processing organization) companies, which was acquired by IBM in
2004 for $170 million. At Daksh, He was responsible for managing operations that grew to over
6,000 employees over the course of 4 years.
Prior to founding Daksh, Aravind was Country Head, India for Compaq. He was responsible for
supply chain and manufacturing operations in India which supported a $200 million revenue
stream. At Xerox, he managed logistics and was responsible for setting up the sourcing base,
logistics, model and dealer distribution network for Xerox's office supplies product line. Aravind
implemented the ISO 9000 and Rank Xerox Business Excellence Certification Programs and
won the first President's Gold Medal for quality.
Education : Aravind holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in English Literature from
Delhi University